How Big Is Your Dinghy

kloudie1 · Dec 31, 2015

Check these out.. http://www.porta-bote.com/porta-bote-vs-inflatables
Some folks carry them outboard of the lifelines when they are folded. If I ever have to replace my inflatable, I will use one of these .

Bob 04 H260 · Jan 1, 2016

We have had a few dinghy's. We found the hard dinghy one damgerous to stand up with a dog and lift him onto a dock or sea wall over your head. And was not as seaworthy as an inflatable.

With our first inflatable we could stand up with a dog and walk around.

The next 3 dinghy's were inflatables, two Mercury's and now an AB RIB. With two dogs we used them a lot going to shore at least twice a day, sometimes an extra trip after dark. The Mercs were air deck boats, they had the extended tubes. They do this to support the weight of the motor I think, probably helps them to plane too.

The first Merc was almost 10 ft. It planed with a 4 HP, 2 stroke, very solid, but found it too big, too heavy. Next one was almost 9 ft., we used that on our Hunter 260, found it to be good. It can be crowded with 4 adults but if you are not going far and it is calm it works with a motor. I found the Mercury boats to be well made and I got good use out of them. I had friends with much more expensive dinghy's that were constantly pumping them up, ours were good for months.

With a bigger boat we went to a 6 hp 4 stroke, it could not plane the dinghy. We are now using a RIB with a 9.9 2 stroke because of the longer distances we need to go in the Bahamas.
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I bought the Mercury dinghy's from Defender in Feb during the boat show sales, they were new, a year or two old, hypalon, I saved a lot of money buying then.

Bob
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Sailm8 · Jan 1, 2016

I have had a 8 foot with an inflatable floor and currently have a 10 foot Mercury RIB with a 5hp 4 stroke. We are beach people and travel about 45 minutes to our favorite beach from our anchorage. We haul beach chairs cooler and 7foot umbrella along with a beach bag. It is very stable getting in and out. I wish I had a bigger motor if only to cut down on the travel time. The 5 does a more than adequate job even against a heavy chop. We tow the dink with the motor removed and find it cost less than half a knot. We also bought a crane to lift the motor on and off which helps. We had originally used Weaver Davits to stow the dink but the bigger size drags the dink in the water when we heeled so now we drag.

Got a good deal from Busters marine at the Miami boat show.

DougM · Jan 1, 2016

I have a 10' Zodiac roll up with an inflatable floor. The V bottom design helps to give it a bit more directional stability. The nice thing about it is that when deflated, it doesn't take up a lot of space and if necessary, I can store it in the lazarette. Without the motor, it tows reasonably well, and it's also fairly easy to stow upside down on the foredeck.

I kind of went to an extreme when I powered it with an 8hp 4 stroke Yamaha. I might not do that again, although it's a great engine. In my pre-retirement days handling the 80 pound engine was no big deal. Now, every year it seems like too much extra effort. I did install a small Forespar davit on the stern of my boat which makes hoisting the outboard on and off fairly painless.

Ken Cross · Jan 1, 2016

We use a little 2hp Honda (27 lbs) and for the short runs we do we have no need to plane. That fixes the problem of putting the motor on and off. Our old air floor Avon is carried across the transom of our H 30. Attached is a pic. My cheap PVC electrical conduit mount works well for us. We use the dink little so I don't want to hassle with towing it most of the time. The problem with our dink is low freeboard and a really wet ride if I open the throttle. A dink with bigger tubes one of these days would really help. I'm thinking of trying an old 8 foot Livingston hard dink. I already own it.

Ken

Fred · Jan 1, 2016

I have a seabright 230 -- 7.6 ft airfloor which tows well behind my H26. This past year I upgraded to a 4hp and was disappointed that it doesn't quite get to a plane even with one person. The dinghy is difficult to row with two persons onboard since there is only one bench. It works ok for short trips to shore but a bit small for pleasure trips.

Jackdaw · Jan 1, 2016

Hey Squidd,
Maybe you've noticed that most people in the apostles drag their dinks behind them. A good size for you might be a walker bay 8 rigid, with air tubes. It drags behind the boat very easily and offers very little resistance because of the smooth hard bottom. The WB8 is a bit on the small side but it's a good compromise for a small boat like yours. you could put almost any kind of small motor on it

gettinthere · Jan 1, 2016

10'6" RIB with 15hp 2 stroke.
we run long distances from anchorages and I insist on planing with a full load.

Bob 04 H260 · Jan 1, 2016

Fred said:
I have a seabright 230 -- 7.6 ft airfloor which tows well behind my H26. This past year I upgraded to a 4hp and was disappointed that it doesn't quite get to a plane even with one person. The dinghy is difficult to row with two persons onboard since there is only one bench. It works ok for short trips to shore but a bit small for pleasure trips.

Hi Fred, a bigger dinghy will be easier to plane, I've found the smaller boats can get a bit unstable once they get up on plane. I don't know if yours has a keel or not. Also it helps if the tubes and floor are quite hard, if the day cools off it can be enough to slow the boat down.
Bob

druid · Jan 1, 2016

I've gone through a LOT of dinghies, looking for one that serves me well. I'm not a fan of inflatables: I've found they don't last, and, well... they have no soul. I'm currently using my 9ft rowing/sailing dinghy I built mainly for fishing. She's light, rows well, sails well, fits on the foredeck and tows well. But I'm looking at building a "wooden inflatable": a flat-bottomed, wooden (stitch'n'glue) boat with a similar below-the-waterline profile as an 8ft inflatable. It should tow well, plane easily, and weigh a LOT less and last longer than an inflatable.

As for size, 8ft is pretty much minimum for 1-2 people, maybe even a bit small for 3 big people and a dog.

druid

Benny17441 · Jan 4, 2016

Just consider that an 8' unit could fit in your foredeck if it was semi-deflated. Just haul it aboard and let some of the air out. It would not take much to re-inflate it when you get ready to deploy again.

druid · Jan 4, 2016

Benny17441 said:
Just consider that an 8' unit could fit in your foredeck if it was semi-deflated. Just haul it aboard and let some of the air out. It would not take much to re-inflate it when you get ready to deploy again.

I tried that... with all the leaning on it while going forward it had a leak in it within a year. My advice is to have any inflatable either fully inflated or fully deflated and stored. (and keep squirrels away from it!)

druid

pateco · Jan 4, 2016

This is our current Dinghy. $100 at a yard sale including the 1953 Evinrude YachTwin 3 motor.

Using it with the 1953 Evinrude 3hp it came with does not plane with this motor. I am using a 1972 Evinrude mate 2 mostly now, but have a 1974 Evinrude 6 seen in the other pic that I can also use It is just harder to get the motor aboard I still need to get it registered with the State of FL, and build custom mounts on the foredeck to strap her down, but can tow her for now.

Scott T-Bird · Jan 4, 2016

pateco said:
This is our current Dinghy. $100 at a yard sale including the motor.

Using it with a 1953 Evinrude 3hp does not plane with this motor. I still need to get it registered with the State of FL, and build custom mounts on the foredeck to strap her down, but can tow her for now.

That looks like the WM Watertender, which is what I intend to buy for next season. Squidd, I was going to recommend this until you suggested that you don't want to tow because you troll for fishing. Reviews sound good for this dinghy. I consider that my 27' boat is just too small to try to stow on board, and I know that the inflate/deflate routine would get old quickly (Sue doesn't have a lot of patience). I'm resigned to towing, I think. Pateco, does this dinghy tow well?

pateco · Jan 4, 2016

Scott T-Bird said:
Pateco, does this dinghy tow well?

I have not towed it yet. It is still sitting in my side yard. Rebuilding the carb on the Evinrude, (it leaks from the float bowl when tilted up out of the water). Then I need to register it with the state. I suspect I will need to get a cover for it to keep it from filling with water if we should run into any weather while towing. Does not have a drain/plug.

pateco · Jan 4, 2016

What do you guys that tow use for your bridle? I was thinking of polypropylene so that it would float when backing and not fowl the prop.

sesmith · Jan 4, 2016

Attached is a pic of our 8' Portabote strapped to the stanchions on our boat. It works well for us. We unfold it on the foredeck, and drop it in the water using the jib halyard. About 15-20 min in or out. It also tows well, if you keep it close. You can't put a hole in it (without really trying), rows well, and it holds more than I ever thought it would.

Scott T-Bird · Jan 4, 2016

I would consider a cover as well. I would also install a self-bailing drain similar to the one I had on a small sailboat years ago (if I could find something similar). For $600 new, the Watertender appears to be a reasonable boat for a small price. The Portabote appears to be a pretty nifty concept, but at what price for the budget minded?

How Big Is Your Dinghy

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